Indiana metro areas.

• Position: Outlook Summary for 2003

By Faculty from Academia Statewide

* Barry Ritchey on Anderson: Short-term: continuing losses of jobs in manufacturing and slow to zero income growth. Long-term: this area could become one of the must urbanized corridors in the state.

* Thayr Richey on Bloomington: The Bloomington experience may reveal a new approach to the Indiana economy: retain a core manufacturing base but grow the overall economy through higher paying jobs in education and service.

* Jim Smith on Columbus: This area's ability to raise the education level of the workforce will be important in determining whether economic prosperity comes to Bartholomew County or gets diverted to Minnesota and Vermont.

* Gale Blalock on Evansville: Recent announcements of the expansion of Toyota and its suppliers and the arrival of Ford in Gibson County bode well for the future.

* Tom Guthrie on Fort Wayne: After two years of decline (2000 and 2001) and a year of essentially no growth, the Fort Wayne metro economy is forecast to have a significant cyclical bounce in 2003.

* Don Coffin on Gary: The metro economy has not shared in the tentative national recovery. There is no particular reason to expect a strong, or even a weak, recovery in 2003. While the immediate future does not look terribly bright, the longer-term future can be what we decide to make of it.

* Morton Marcus on Indianapolis: As 2002 ends, the Indianapolis area seems poised for job increases once again. Of the 30,000 jobs expected to be gained in Indiana in 2003, more than half are likely to be in the Indianapolis area.

* Kathy Parkison on Kokomo: As an economy that relies on manufacturing, Kokomo is in a holding pattern, much like the rest of the country. There have been some specific...